The present invention relates to a combination of electrical components which makes it possible to provide an electrical source at any randomly selected location within a room. More specifically, the present invention relates to a combination of a continuous power source extending along a wall and an adapter which may be positioned on the power source at any desired location.
A number of electrical systems have been proposed in which an elongated electrical source may have one or more adapters fastened along its length. U.S. Pat. No. 3,771,097 relates to an elongated power source which has three slots or grooves defined in it so that an attachment plug or adapter may be connected anywhere along the length of the receptacle. The adapter must be connected, however, by spreading apart prongs which are inserted into the slots, with each prong being in a respective slot. Therefore, if the prongs lose their resilience, the attachment may loosen and become unsatifactory. A similar arrangement is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,979,686.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,617,849 relates to another elongated power source shaped as a molding, within which an outlet is movable. In this case, however, the conductors are positioned at opposite sides of an elongated member, so that the movable outlet cannot be freely removed from the molding, but must be moved, if at all, by sliding along the length of the molding. Other similar arrangements are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,261,986 and 2,348,665.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,836,937 discloses another arrangement in which the positioning of the conductors prevents the adapter from being freely removable from the elongated power source. U.S. Pat. No. 3,757,273 relates to an adapter which may be clamped in a desired position, but which involves a complicated mechanical arrangement in which the contacts are moved outward in relation to the structure in which they are mounted to make contact. Other arrangements involving elongated power sources are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,700,752 and 3,824,522.
It would be advantageous to provide an arrangement including an elongated power source and an adapter in which the adapter could be freely removable from the power source or, alternatively, may be moved to a desired location by sliding without a complicated mechanical structure for moving the contacts. It would furthermore be advantageous to provide such an arrangement in which the position of the adapter along the elongated power source could be made as secure as desired, and in which an extremely high level of safety is maintained.